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The Human Beast

Young people who grew up with digital technologies and cannot conceive of a life without the Internet, digital games, and social media are sometimes called “digital natives” whereas older generations who acquired these technologies as adults are “digital immigrants.” Digital natives have many advantages but “addiction” to screens has its critics.

Animals from an environment full of risk remain vigilant and avoid exploring their surroundings. This promotes survival but has the indirect consequence of reducing their cognitive ability. A similar pattern applies to humans and shows up as academic under performance.

In romance, as in real estate it is either a buyer's market, or a seller's market. If there is a scarcity of men (or women) in a society, they get the best deal. If men are in demand, they can play the field. If women are in demand, they can hold out for a desirable partner who is kind, intelligent, and affluent.

During the fertile phase of their monthly cycle, women are prone to greater risk taking. For psychologists, this means that they are more likely to initiate sexual affairs. Marketers discovered that women are more likely to try new brands as well. Now they plan to use this fact in targeted marketing. Assuming that they get away with it, will the scheme work?

The argument for human uniqueness is of mostly historical interest. As we gained more understanding of animal behavior, we learned that their psychology has more in common with us than had been imagined previously.

Violence often breaks out between religious groups. Yet, it is a mistake to blame religion for violence. Unfortunately, warfare is a universal human potential that would still exist if we were all atheists.

If a tsunami washes away your home, family and friends, you are entitled to feel that all is lost. Most people bounce back from disasters sooner or later. Yet many people feel catastrophic anxiety in their everyday lives without any catastrophe. Why?

Happiness is fairly easy to recognize, and, even. easy to measure. Yet, it is difficult to understand what circumstances contribute most to happiness. One way of addressing this issue is to ask whether modern humans obtain joy in the same ways as our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

There is a basic grammar of courtship in birds where the male offers a gift to the female, such as a bit of food, or a piece of nesting material. If the gift is satisfactory, the pair moves on to the next phase of bonding. This grammar also influences men's willingness to donate to women, even in an era of gender equality.

If we measure calories of fast food, can we reduce the prevalence of obesity? No, because the underlying cause of obesity has surprisingly little to do with diet. Helping people to eat less through food labeling is well intentioned but ignores the science of weight gain.

Recent research has clearly shown that religion is much more important in poorer countries. The same principle is true of states as I report in a paper to be published in Cross-Cultural Research. Yet, Maine stands out as a poor state where religion is relatively unimportant. Why?

In the current election campaign, Republicans are organizing their message around a theme of fear. That is hardly surprising given scientific evidence that the brains of conservatives are more strongly reactive to threats. For that reason, the campaign strategy is more likely to resonate with their own base than it is to bring in new voters.

Our social lives are being transformed by electronic networks. We no longer operate as autonomous individuals so much as elements in social networks. That social hothouse may encourage narcissism as a defensive strategy.

Everyone has untapped potential in some creative field. Yet, some individuals have far more of it than others, e. g., Shakespeare, Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Edison, or Steve Jobs. Apart from “creative” genes there are at least three key environmental factors that affect creative accomplishments.

Organized religion is easy to define as group participation in beliefs and rituals. There is usually a priest, a place, and a prayer (1). Spirituality is trickier. It is often defined in terms of its opposites: anti materialism, lack of concern with worldly success, out-of-body sensations, and weakening of the ego.

The Sermon on the Mount may be the most radically egalitarian document around. Throwing the money changers out of the temple also put the rich in their place. Ditto for the camel passing through the eye of the needle. Yet, Christianity fosters inequality in practice. It reconciles the poor to their misery: It is their opium.

Digital technology fosters intimate connection across vast distances and facilitates global cooperation. Ultimately, the global community will function like a single brain that connects most people and their electronic device

Many social scientists believe that communities are bad at sharing in commons systems where access to a shared resource is free. Garret Hardin called this the Tragedy of the Commons (TOC, 1). In reality, commons systems work very well and survive for centuries. Now the Commons is thriving on the Internet.

My East London informants equated “bottle” with courage, strength under pressure. They suggested a very crude derivation of the expression: the bottle retains whatever bodily fluids might issue in a time of fear. A person with bottle is immune to the anxiety that cripples ordinary individuals. In clinical speak, they are resilient.

In a recent post, I suggested that artificial sexual experiences in the future will rival, or surpass, the real thing. The fear of enslavement by intelligent machines and the fear of machines that are smarter than us is a staple of science fiction following Isaac Asimov's lead. Now one celebrity scientist, Stephen Hawking, is scared. Should the rest of us be?

Modern Darwinism conspires with Machiavellian politics and competition-based economics to paint a very cynical picture of human nature. Such theories have their uses but modern psychology suggests that they are wrong about people. We are learning that humans do best when they care for others rather than looking out for themselves.

The separation of church and state in the U.S. constitution is more honored in the breach than in the observance. It seems that those who want to escape from organized religion must fight for that freedom against those in power who would foist religion upon them at every turn. The religious pledge of allegiance recited daily in schools is clearly unconstitutional.

Pornographers are noteworthy for their skill in adapting new technologies. The Internet was no exception and pornographic sites were the first big money spinners in cyber space. Now, the Internet is a more mainstream way of meeting new romantic partners, and even conducting relationships. What do new technologies hold in store for our sex lives?

For sentient beings, life means approaching pleasure and avoiding pain. Pain may be physical, or psychological. If psychological, it is perceived as unease, or anxiety. Our vulnerability to anxiety is the biggest threat to our well-being. Escaping from anxiety is a powerful motivator. Why do we suffer so much from anxiety?

There is a market for religion just as there is a market for material goods. The primary function of religion is to help people feel better about their lives. Competing feel-good products include psychotherapy, anti-anxiety drugs, and entertainment. As the number of competitors grows in developed countries, religion declines in importance.

The more education a person receives, the more likely they are to become atheists. Non belief also increases with intelligence and income. Residents of more educated countries see religion as less important in their daily lives.

Whether it is crime, drug abuse, academic failure, or poor social mobility, there is a strong temptation to blame the parents. It is indeed true that most social problems are linked to bad parent-child relationships. Yet, parents are not nearly so much in control of that relationship as moralists assume.

Children of single mothers have much worse outcomes in the U.S. than children of married parents. Yet, countries with the highest levels of single parenthood have low crime and high social mobility. That is the parenting paradox. How can it be explained?